THE CRIMINAL ALPHABET

Hardback. The author spent almost 33 of the previous 53 years in and out of prison, but mainly in. He was a juvenile offender back in the mid 1970s and went on to become an adult prisoner in the 1980s and beyond. His shortest prison sentence was 7 days (for criminal damage) and his longest sentence was life (for bank robbery and possession of firearms). He has 58 criminal convictions for everything from attempted theft to armed robbery and prison escape, and was a career criminal for most of his life. What he doesn't know about criminal and prison slang could be written on the back of a postage stamp and still leave room for The Lord's Prayer. The criminal world has its own rules and its own unique language. And nobody is more familiar with them than the author, a prison veteran. From insults to terms of respect, weapons to injuries, crimes to punishment, this is the ultimate guide to the words, stories, legends and secret lore of an underworld that most of us can only imagine. Read this and you'll never make the mistake of thinking 'turtle doves fly', 'undies are worn' or 'The Greybar Hotel' is worth checking into. From an ex-professional bank robber this is the most authoritative dictionary of criminal slang out there - and an absorbing journey, through words, into the heart of the criminal world. 380pp. small 8vo. h/back. As New, dw. not required.